Graham County Fair

Before we get to the fair, here's Aster towards the beginning of this month, so she's just over 2 months:

First part of the county fair is really submitting the items, but I don't have pictures of everything we put into the fair.  The kids put in a bunch of artwork.  Cairn also submitted the bear she made for Aster and some flour tortillas (that she made completely by herself).  Grant picked out the tomatoes and apples so that he could participate.  And I put in jam, cookies (I knew only three would be in the fair so made the ones I wanted to eat anyways... mmm, chocolate chip!) and two baby blankets (Aster's and Payton's (Josh, is that the correct spelling?)).  All of our entries did well!

There are a lot of parades here.  The County Fair Parade is one of the best.  All of the clubs are in full swing and have something to show off.  So everyone knows at least one person in the parade.  This being a small town (or set of towns really) means that in reality you know someone in every other group marching down Main Street.

 Here are Cerise and Gauge waiting for the parade to begin.  That girl is going to cost a fortune in braces in a few years...  They got to hang out with Daddy and Aster...  and fill his pockets with all of the thrown candy from the parade.

Meanwhile, Cairn and I were in the parade with the Girl Scouts!

 After the parade we loaded everyone and the stroller up to head for the fairgrounds.  We started with the animals and produce. I love the goats!  But the one sheep that kept bleating was the favorite for the kids.

Next we let the kids choose some rides.  Cerise chose the airplanes.  As the ride came to an end Gauge started to frantically push the button and spin the wheel in front of him, yelling, "No!  Higher!  Up!!"  What a disappointment--the controls didn't respond!

 Cairn chose the one ride that they couldn't go on last year (It broke and they Cerise was too short anyways.  She was barely tall enough to ride with an adult this year).  It's a dragon roller coaster.  I remember last year Cairn said it was the same one that trapped the kids in the Dungeons and Dragons show.  They all enjoyed it.

Aster chose to ride in the stroller, in our arms, and wrapped to my back.

After the rides we took our time, took a lot of brakes in a shady spot and saw everything else there was to see: vendors, service booths, our other submitted work, live music, a magic show....

 We stayed until the kids were crawling into our laps asking to go to sleep.  Then happily went home and carried them all to their beds.

What a great family we have.